Page 45 of Dragon Tempted

Jonas stepped closer to the boards. “A causal relationship.”

“Correct,” Ryan said.

Jonas grinned. “Good idea. I can use a program to apply events from both our clan histories as well as global histories to see what correlations we can tie together.”

Ryan smiled back. “I can work with you. I’ll compile what Megan has already put together.”

Jonas shook his head as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “No need. I can take pics and use OCR tech.” He paused. “Optical Character Recognition is the tech that takes wording in pictures and converts them to text that I can work with.”

Jonas started taking pictures of the boards and mumbling to himself about programs to compare dates and times with historically significant events. Sienna glanced over at Ryan, who looked like someone had kicked his puppy now that Jonas declared he didn’t need help.

After a few minutes Jonas left and Sienna turned to her best friend. “Sorry that didn’t work out the way you wanted it to.”

Ryan shrugged. “The important thing is that he might be able to find something that will help us with the curse.”

“Agreed. But here’s the thing, Ry. Jonas is not going to get subtlety. He’s brilliant when it comes to computers and clueless when it comes to emotional cues. You’re going to have to be blunt about your feelings.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “Nope.”

She decided to reason with her best friend instead of knocking him upside the head. “He’s not a stranger. We grew up with Jonas. This shouldn’t be this hard.”

Ryan sighed. “He’s only a year older than us, but as kids he acted like he was ten years older. He didn’t want to play with us.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t play with him now,” she quipped.

Ryan glared at her.

She held up her hands. “Okay. Baby steps. Ask him out for a drink. He loves going to that bar that has all the retro computer games.”

Ryan shook his head. “And then I sit there all night and watch him play?”

“Right. Maybe not a good idea for a first date.” She thought for a moment. “He loves Nashville hot wings and IPAs.”

“Maybe.” Ryan leaned back.

“I’ll let Jonas know that you’ll be updating him with information as Megan keeps digging through John’s journals. That will give you more time with him.”

“When did you decide to be my matchmaker?” Ryan asked.

Sienna smiled. “Better me than Tessa.”

Ryan shuddered. “That’s true.”

“Although if she was working on this, you and Jonas would probably already be engaged by now.”

“Stop.” Ryan sat up. “It’s time to get back to work. We’ve got a few things to wrap up before dinner. I’m eating with the guards tonight. I’m not missing Marilyn’s enchiladas for anything.”

“That does sound good. We’re having pizzas. The girls are helping Marilyn get them ready.” Speaking of...it was almost five. She checked her phone for the tenth time and saw no calls. Not that she was surprised. “Any calls on the office phone today?”

“Nope. That’s the third time you’ve asked. What’s up?”

Sienna sighed. “I invited John to join me and the girls for dinner so we could talk about where we stand with everything.”

“Do you think he’ll show?” he asked.

“At this point, no. He’s talking about leaving again.”

Ryan looked up from his laptop. “And what do you think about that?”